Buying equipment in special ops/military type games

[Kale]

Originally Posted by safisher

Now, another more elemental way is to make the PC roll for it. I use Admin, Scrounging, or Savoir-Faire (Military) to get what they want. They can put in requests in official channels (Admin), scavenging on the base (Scrounging) or smoozing and bartering (Savoir-Faire).

What about Carousing and the price of a few drinks for the Quartermaster? :)

For you Trekkies out there, I'm reminded of this episode from Deep Space Nine with Nog working out a series of trades for the supplies they need:
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki...River_(episode)
That's practically an adventure session in-and-of itself!

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by safisher

GURPS Action 1 has a system for budgeting on each operation, and has basic rules for Pulling Rank are in there, too. It's meant to be cinematic but it actually works fine as a way to quantify and control a team's budget and access to aid in the context of an RPG adventure. Even if you don't use Action, Action 1 and Action 2 (the GM handbook) are two of the most useful books for running a modern campaign. Highly recommend.

Now, another more elemental way is to make the PC roll for it. I use Admin, Scrounging, or Savoir-Faire (Military) to get what they want. They can put in requests in official channels (Admin), scavenging on the base (Scrounging) or smoozing and bartering (Savoir-Faire). You might decide a table of prices and set penalties so the PCs know what they are up against.

-1, $100 or less
-2, $300
-3, $500
-4, $1000
-5. $3000
etc.

Dollar amounts aren't exact measurements in military terms. You have to go by some measure of supply and demand with demand equal to what another service branch needs. Forester lampshades this in his book version of Greyhound (I am finding it very difficult to get the movie) when he said that the price of a tanker's cargo mattered less than the fact it would keep the Royal Navy afloat for one hour all by itself.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

A mild but entertaining side point is designing equipment. Real spec ops people do a lot of Macgyvering. Usually not cinematic things like designing while the bad guys are breathing down their necks, more like designing at base. The UDT once had a shaped charge designed to clear beach obstacles by flooding them with water. It was made by stuffing explosives in a fire hose. David Armine Howarth once when on the shore staff of the Shetland Bus (the infil/exfil service of the Norwegian Resistance), solved compass problems by shifting the compass away from metal and putting in a redundant compass. Rather straightforward but most of the smugglers in the Bus were used to navigating by landmark near home. Condoms were used for almost everything, even sometimes the original purpose.

...it must be said that outright pilfering is not unknown either. Read any operator's memoirs and there will usually be at least one account of them robbing some nearby infantry unit of some kind of stores (typically ammunition). Granted there have been "one or two challenges to the accuracy" of Bravo Two Zero, but McNab does combine both of the above practices with his accounts of pilfering C4 from allied stores to make expedient Claymore mine substitutes.

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by clu2415

So I suppose I need to set an operating budget for them, since rare and cutting edge tech costs more.

I think this is the simplest solution: just set a budget for the party or for each character which they can't go over. This assumes you don't want the acquisition of equipment to be an adventure in itself.

If you can't just pick a number that seems reasonable, write up a complete character loadout that represents a character straddling the line of what you think is reasonable for them to take. Add up the costs for all that equipment. That's your budget number.

Players generally won't care about the exact source of the money; they just want their stuff on the mission. Players who balk at what you consider a reasonable number should use the character's Wealth, Patrons, or other resources to add to their equipment.

[safisher]

Originally Posted by Kale

What about Carousing and the price of a few drinks for the Quartermaster? :)

Yes, I'd accept that! But one could argue it is SF (Military) too!

[safisher]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Dollar amounts aren't exact measurements in military terms.

I find that when it comes to operations budgets for PCs in an rpg it works fine.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by safisher

I find that when it comes to operations budgets for PCs in an rpg it works fine.

My point is that a prize Kanenobu costs more than a sten gun but most commandos will want to take the later to battle and leave the former in a museum. Even though in fact both are military equipment.

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

My point is that a prize Kanenobu costs more than a sten gun but most commandos will want to take the later to battle and leave the former in a museum. Even though in fact both are military equipment.

Unless I failed my Google the former is a sword. We're talking about TL8 commando stuff here. The GM would probably look at you funny if you asked for a sword for your commando PC. In game it'd probably derail the game into a long one on one talk with an NPC mental health professional.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Þorkell

Unless I failed my Google the former is a sword. We're talking about TL8 commando stuff here. The GM would probably look at you funny if you asked for a sword for your commando PC. In game it'd probably derail the game into a long one on one talk with an NPC mental health professional.

And a very cool sword from what wikipedia said, but not intrinsically useful on a modern battlefield

As it happens, I think Jack Churchill had a sword (not a Katana but a Claymore) but he was mildly batty. Battiness is sometimes associated with commandos.

But that is not my point. My point is that neither the ability to get a hold of a given piece of equipment, nor the effectiveness of it in combat can be realistically measured by money.

[dcarson]

During Guadalcanal Puller's marines grabbed machine-guns from the army troops as the troops watched. The Japanese were shelling the beach as the army was landing and Puller's troops had been shelled for enough days that they just ignored it and grabbed the guns while the new army troops took cover.